The Optometry Program was initiated in 2004 delivered by Faculty of Optometry, which in 2011 was restructures as part of Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences run by its own division in department of applied and allied medical sciences.

The Optometry Program is committed to educate and train future optometrists who provide high quality vision care and services for the Palestinian community.

The bachelor program at An-Najah National University strives to be the first program to respond to the expanded scope of optometric practice in the middle east. Broad-Based clinical exposure and patient care experiences will be supplemented with a rigorous didactic curriculum designed to prepare optometric professionals to be part of a continually evolving and dynamic profession.

The program envisions a pool of professional practitioners who become leaders in their fields, serving as vision consultants in their communities, and as catalysts for changing policies, programs and practices that will benefit the profession.

An-Najah’s Department of Optometry seeks to be the leading college of Optometry in the region. Our vision is:

• To be recognized locally, nationally and internationally for excellence and innovation in education, research and patient eye health care.
• To achieve a lasting impact on the visual health within the region by continuously improving models of care delivery and providing academic progression to the science of optometry.
• To develop an innovative educational program, with an effective high standards and dynamic curriculum.
• To redesign the eye care system in the country by facilitating the delivery and services of high quality eye care.
• To play a vital role in building human resources and infrastructure in the region by producing future leaders and health care professionals in Optometry whom are dedicated to lifelong learning and innovative research.

The mission of An-Najah’s Bachelor of Optometry program is to build a foundation in which faculty, students, and staff work together like one team with mutual respect to share knowledge and experience depending on methods and techniques that will best serve the optometric needs of the community. The program is committed to prepare optometrists who provide clinical care of the highest standard in science and manners with utter most integrity, loyalty and professionalism.

The goal of the Bachelor of Optometry program is to graduate future professional leaders for the highest level of optometric practice dedicated to provide eye care, to cure eye diseases and eliminating preventable blindness in the OPT. Graduates will serve as leading professionals in clinical and executive positions, translating evidence-based science into clinical practice with determines and quality-improvement policies that ultimately leads to better vision care.

An-Najah’s Optometry Department, including the new Eye Clinic at An-Najah National University Teaching Hospital is committed to fulfilling the mission and vision to the community through the achievement of these Goals and Objectives:

• Establish a resounding optometric program that will enable the College to graduates optometrists leading the Optometric education in the Middle East.
• Provide outstanding educational programs and resources.
• Develop an outstanding clinical education through enhancing clinical services at the University’s Teaching Hospital and Teaching Clinics located in the optometry department .
• Promote safe, efficient and quality vision care supply across the country.
• Establish the College as an exceptional research institute with high standards in optometry, vision science and clinical practice.
• Develop community capacity building.
• Unify the practice of optometry locally and across the region by adjusting and modifying the scope of practice and ensuring it meets international educational standards and inquiries.

The Bachelor of Optometry (B.O.) program offered at An-Najah National University consists of a four-year length curriculum and is designed with its services and resources to educate future optometrists for practice in the future, and to prepare them to be part of a continually changing and dynamic profession. The primary goal is to educate future Optometric professionals who seek look for and critically analyze new information to effectively serve the patients. Students joining this program will gain the knowledge and experience needed to serve as vision and eye care consultants to schools, government, business, and industry, Additionally, the program is designed for.

• To earn a bachelor degree in Optometry, a student must complete 131 credit hours. These include completion of University, College, Department compulsory and elective courses.
• Spend a minimum of 4 years in the program.

Grading Scale for Optometry Courses

• The minimum passing mark for each course is 60%.

• A student who does not pass a course (achieved D- or below) is allowed to repeat the failed course up to two times.
• students are allowed to retake a course to raise their grade point average (GPA).